Silk Road forums
Discussion => Newbie discussion => Topic started by: windmillz on January 18, 2013, 11:36 pm
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Thought I would create a guide to help people with GPG in the terminal.
Step 1: Create a new key-pair
$ gpg --gen-key
(GnuPG) 1.4.9; Copyright (C) 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
Please select what kind of key you want:
(1) RSA and RSA (default)
(2) DSA and Elgamal
(3) DSA (sign only)
(4) RSA (sign only)
Your selection?
DSA keypair will have 1024 bits.
ELG-E keys may be between 1024 and 4096 bits long.
What keysize do you want? (2048)
Requested keysize is 2048 bits
Please specify how long the key should be valid.
0 = key does not expire
= key expires in n days
w = key expires in n weeks
m = key expires in n months
y = key expires in n years
Key is valid for? (0)
Key does not expire at all
Is this correct? (y/N) y
You need a user ID to identify your key; the software
constructs the user ID
from the Real Name, Comment and Email Address in this form:
"Heinrich Heine (Der Dichter) "
Real name: Alli Fairfield
Email address: alli@gmail.com
Comment: exkey
You selected this USER-ID:
"Alli Fairfield (exkey) "
Change (N)ame, (C)omment, (E)mail or (O)kay/(Q)uit? O
You need a Passphrase to protect your secret key.
Enter passphrase:
Repeat passphrase:
We need to generate a lot of random bytes. It is a good idea
to perform some other action (type on the keyboard, move the
mouse, utilize the disks) during the prime generation; this
gives the random number generator a better chance to gain
enough entropy.
.+++++++++++++++++++++++++.+++++++++++++++++++++++
gpg: key 90130E51 marked as ultimately trusted
public and secret key created and signed.
gpg: checking the trustdb
gpg: 3 marginal(s) needed, 1 complete(s) needed, PGP trust model
gpg: depth: 0 valid: 1 signed: 0 trust: 0-, 0q, 0n, 0m, 0f, 1u
pub 1024D/90130E51 2010-01-02 <-------(90130E51 is the Public [keyname])
Key fingerprint = B8BD 46EF 41E7 44B9 F934 7C47 3215 5713 9013 0E51
uid Alli Fairfield (exkey)
sub 2048g/35C5BCDB 2010-01-02 <-------(35C5BCDB is the private keyname)
Step 2: Export the new public key (to post it on the forums for example)
- You can do this by printing it in the terminal, or creating a file with the publickey in it.
***To print out key to terminal***
$ gpg --armor --export [keyname] <------(This will print to terminal where you can copy,paste etc...)
***To create a file with key***
$ gpg --armor --export [keyname] > filenameuptoyou.asc <-----(will pop up in your home folder, open it with gedit, or whatev
you would like to use it with)
Step 3: How to Import someones public key <------(So you can use their public key to encrypt messages to them)
$ gpg -import [file]
Step 4: Send a encryped message
~Ex. Sally would like to send a encrypted message to Edward. Sally Imports Edwards public key then uses this command to encrypt the file with the message in it.
$ gpg --recipient Edward --armor --encrypt [filename] <-------(this creates the encrypted message in the same folder as the
message, default is probably your home folder if its on your
Desktop make sure you $ cd Desktop before or else it wont
work. <correct me if im worng)
Step 5: Decrypt a Message someone sent you
$ gpg --decrypt [filename.asc] <--------(This will print message details in terminal window)
~If you prefer a text file with the decrypted message use:
$ gpg --decrypt text.asc > file.txt
~Enter passphrase you created for the key-pair of the puclic key used to encrypt the message.
Also If you would like to veiw all your key-pairs use:
$ gpg --list-keys
Hope this well help a bit, If you have any questions feel free to ask!
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cant help